Drying-machine.



T. C. KELLY.

DRYING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22. me.

Patented Apr. 2, 1918.

FIG. 1

' INVENTOR.

. OW L .{THOMASiQ KELLY, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

DRYING-MACHINE.

nann es. I

To; all whom it'mag concern:

. citizen ofthe United: States 'residing. at Gilt 'cinnati, in-.- the -county of Hamilton and State ofrrOhio, have invented a1..-n'ew, and

face, and the obj ects of my invention are,

' first, to provide a method ofcontinuously drying ,ipasty hnaterial. This is accomjgilished byrhav ng twospiral:iconveyersiwith the spiralsof the same ihandaand'ipitch running;- together :inw the: same" 1 dlI'BClllOIlw and over-lapping so that the spirals Of OIlG'WQOIl" veyenwillzblean thespirals of the other conveyer. These intermeshing spiral conveyors are rotated and1rarrangediappropriately to feed or convey the direction through a given feed conduit, the depth of intermeshing being suflicient to provide mechanical clearance, and yet serving to mutually clean one another from the wet and rather adhesive material to be dried, and so insuring a uniform and dependable progressive feed under the coordinated intermeshing spiral influence. These spiral conveyers carry the material to be dried over a heated surface thereby drying it. Second, to dry material in a tight casing so as toprevent the escape of dust.

I prefer to pile one conveyer above the other, thus saving floor space and also making one steam space heat the top of one drying space and the bottom of another.

I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a horizontal section of the drying machine on line 1 1' Fig. 3. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the drying machine on line 2 2 Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on line 3 3 on Figs. 1 or 2. Fig. at is a detail view showing arrangement of gears for driving the, spiral conveyers.

- The casing 1 with steam passages 2 and conveyer troughs 3 with vapor space 22, for carrying on moisture which is evaporated in drying the material, constitute the frame work of the drying machine which has bearings 8 for the spiral conveyers and bearings 10 for the counter shafts, the steam passages being connected by the side pipes 4..

- Specificati'onlof Letters Patent.

- ratenteun ira rare.

alAp'pli'eation filediovember 22, tt916. uSerial No. 132,920.

Steam entering at nozzle 5 and leaving from nozzle 6. i The spiral conveyers 7 .erswitlr-double-spirals in troughs 3 are supported by bearings 8 at-each end. ()n one (I prefer convey- .end of eachspiral conveyer is i spur gear 9;forim-atinginto an idlergear l1, for driving. the mating ccnveyer-in the same direction. @Gne end of one conveyeiwshaft-of each pair of conveyers is extended for carrying a bevelhgear, 12,. for driving which mates with; pinion 13 on counter shaft 15. This counter: shaft l5 is VOI tlCQLl ZtHCl stands on step box 14:, with vertical bearings '10. The

counter shafts 15 are driven by bevel gears 16 which in turniare driven by the bevel pinion 17 .on themain driving "Shaft 1:18. Theimain driving shaft is driven by rpulley 19, power for which is derived from a belt passing: around it. material 1n the same .lThe material in drying is fed in the drying machine at nozzle 20 and carried over the heated conveyor trough 3 by the spiral conveyers 7 whose intermeshing spirals act as self cleaners and prevent clogging of the conveyers by the material in process of drying and when the material is dry it drops out of the nozzle 21 into any appropriate bin or receptacle.

The conveyer trough 3 is heated by steam in the steam space 2.

As is clearly shown in Fig. 1, spirals 7 are intermeshed to coact or unitarily convey, but separated, or non-contacting. They thus operate to work the material upon itself and between the spirals, keeping them clean and also subjecting the material to an attrition type of feed, which disintegrates and breaks up the tenacious lumps, coincident to the heating, producing a product both dry and homogeneously comminuted.

It will thus be seen that I provide a drier comprising a tier of end-wise communicating feed conduits arranged in different horizontal planes, and in the same vertical plane, the intermeshing spiral conveyors feeding alternately in opposite directions from top to bottom in the successive conduits, thus feeding and dropping the wet material step like through the drier, and at the same time subjecting the conveyed. material to the influence of a drying current flowing counter to the general direction of run of material through the drier.

The wet material is thus positively moved along at a uniform rate Without adhesion or choking, and at the same time it is most advantageously presented to the counter flow of the drying current.

I claim:

1. In a machine for drying wet material, an inclosed elongated feed conduit, intermeshing conveyers running lengthwise or the conduit and arranged to feed in a given direction through the conduit, and means for directing a drying fluid current through the conduit.

2. In a machine for drying wet material, an inclosed elongated feed conduit, intermeshing conveyers running lengthwise of the conduit and arranged for feeding material in a given direction through the conduit, and means for directing a drying current through the conduit in a direction counter to the conveyer feed.

3. In a machine for drying Wet material, a series of inclosed conduits arranged step like and having alternate endwise communication from top to bottom for the feed passage, intermeshing spiral conveyers in each conduit, each intermeshing pair being arranged for feeding endwise of the conduit and arranged to feed successively in opposite direction through the successive conduits from top to bottom and means for subjecting thematerial under conveyance to a drying agency.

4:. In a machine for drying wet material, a series of inclosed conduits arranged step like and having alternate endwisecornmunication from top to bottom for the feed passage, intermeshing spiral conyeyers in each conduit, each intermeshing pair being arranged for feeding endwi'se of the conduit and arranged to feed successively in opposite direction through the successive conduits from top to bottom and means for subjecting the material under conveyance in each conduit to a counter fluid drying current. V

5. In a machine for drying and disintegrating Wet material, an inclosed, elongated, heated conduit, a pair of intermeshing screw conveyers running longitudinally therein, means for unitarily rotating the screws, the spirals being separated for at trition of material forced between the screws, for drying and disintegrating the material.

- THOS. C. KELLY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. a l 

